HERTFORD HUNDRED 



commons being inclosed. By July 1617 the arrange- 

 ments for the inclosure of neighbouring lands seem 

 to have been concluded. ' All is paid for,' wrote the 

 Earl of Suffolk and Sir Fulk Greville, 'and the king 

 will find that he pays like a king for his pleasure." ' 

 In September the Council mentioned the enlarging 

 of Theobalds as one of the items of the extraordinary 

 expenditure which would swallow up the £120,000 

 borrowed from the City and Merchant Strangers for 

 the payment of the king's debts." The surrounding 

 of the park with a wall ' 9 miles long involved further 

 expenditure in 1620-2,* and in July 1623 Lord 

 Brook reported to Secretary Conway that the 3 miles 

 of wall which required coping at Theobalds Park 

 could not be completed that year without heavy 

 additional expense. 1 The building of this wall 

 appears to have led to riots at Cheshunt in 1623, 

 the commoners rising against the inclosure of part 

 of the common near Theobalds. 6 In July 162+ a 

 warrant was issued for the payment of £5,700 and 

 upwards to the paymaster of the works for a new 

 chapel, bedchamber, rooms and tennis court to be 

 built next spring at the king's house at Theobalds,' 

 and warrants had already been issued in June for 

 the payment of persons appointed by Sir Patrick 

 Murray to store the fish-ponds at Theobalds and to 

 keep the herons, French fowls, elks, silkworms, 

 partridges, pheasants, &c. B In 1620 the keeping of 

 Theobalds House and Park was granted to William 

 Earl of Salisbury, whose son, Charles Lord Cranborne, 

 received a similar grant for life in 1629. 9 



James I spent a great deal of time at Theobalds. 10 

 It was there that he received the ambassador of the 

 Princes of the Union in February 1620," and that 

 the Council met in July 1623 to hear the articles 

 of the proposed Spanish marriage. ,! On Sunday 

 27 March 1625 James died at Theobalds, and the 

 Lords of the Council with many others presently 

 assembled together, penned and signed a proclamation, 

 and instantly at the Court Gate proclaimed Prince 

 Charles king. ,s 



Charles I seems to have been less fond of Theobalds 

 than his father, although he visited it occasionally." 

 It was at Theobalds that the last petition of Parlia- 

 ment concerning the militia was presented to him on 

 I March 1642," and from Theobalds on 3 March 

 he set out for Royston on his way to Nottingham.' 8 



In 1650 Theobalds House and Park were in the 

 possession of the Parliamentary trustees, 17 but in April 

 1652 Major William Packer is described as one of 

 the proprietors." 'This Packer,' says George Fox, 

 'was a Baptist. . . . He set up a great meeting of 

 the Baptists at Theobalds Park ; for he and some 

 other officers had purchased it. They were 



to have been 



:alth and the 



of Theobalds 



likely to be again 



CHESHUNT 



exceedingly high, and railed against Friends and truth 

 and threatened to apprehend me with their warrants 

 if ever I came there. Vet ... I was moved of the 

 Lord God to go down to Theobalds, and appoint a 

 meeting hard by them.' 19 Most of the buildings 

 and the wall of the park appear 

 demolished during the Comm 

 materials to have been sold.™ Wl 

 of Bristol petitioned in 1660 for a 

 Park she urged that the walls and 

 much out of repair that it was no 

 used for pleasure." In the survey > 

 trustees recommended that 'the Spittle,' an alms- 

 house for the entertainment of lame, impotent and 

 decayed persons of the parish, should be continued as 

 such." A chapel was left standing and used by the 

 Presbyterians as late as 1689." 



In 1661 the manor and park of Theobalds, 

 excepting mines royal and the passage of the New 

 River, were granted to George 

 Duke of Albemarle, his wife 

 and heirs male." In 1667 

 Charles II promised that, if 

 the Duke of Albemarle and 

 his son Christopher Lord Tor- 

 rington should die without 

 heirs, he would create the 

 Earl of Bath Duke of Albe- 

 marle and grant him the house 

 and park of Theobalds" 

 When, however, Christopher 

 Duke of Albemarle died with- between thru lion,' head, 

 out issue in 1688 ,s the estate ' a ™ d argent. 

 of Theobalds reverted to the 



Crown, and in 1 694 James II issued a warrant from 

 St. Germains granting it to James Duke of Berwick 

 and his heirs male with remainder to his brother 

 Henry Fitz James, Grand Prior of England," whom 

 he created Duke of Albemarle in 1 696-" This 

 warrant apparently was not carried into effect, as 

 both the brothers were outlawed in 1695 ; the Earl 

 of Bath, too, seems to have given up his claim." 

 The manor, separated from the park and house, 

 passed to Elizabeth widow of Christopher Duke of 

 Albemarle ; she married as her second husband Ralph 

 Earl of Montagu, to whose son by his first wife, 

 John Duke of Montagu, the manor came in 1709.™ 

 In 1736 the latter sold the manor to Mrs. Letitia 

 Thornhill, 11 who died without issue. On her death 

 the manor went to the granddaughters of Sir Robert 

 Thornhill, Sarah wife of Richard Cromwell, and 

 Eleanor Hinde, widow. Both moieties of the manor 

 finally passed to the daughters of Sarah Cromwell, 

 and then, as they all died unmarried, to their cousin 



Ik, Dukcof Albe- 



Cat. 



